Hasta La Gadget!

After its annus horribilis of 2011, HTC‘s year is looking considerably better. A solid reception to the One series and a potentially key deal to be the face of Windows Phone 8 – seized right under Nokia’s nose, no less – is the dressing around hardware that is finally compelling: attractive, competitively priced, not embarrassed in specifications. Now, with the HTC One X+, there are signs that HTC is addressing its last big blot on the score-sheet: cloud services.

I’ve been a vocal critic of HTC’s cloud strategy in the past. The company had a head-start on mobile device sync, on remotely accessing a smartphone from the browser, of streaming video, of cloud gaming; it frittered each advantage away, either leaving them to wallow with little promotion and even less love, or seemingly forgot it had them altogether. “Quietly blundering” was the HTC strategy, culminating in the bizarrely handled axing of HTCSense.com services altogether.

“Any company squandering a potential advantage deserves to be scolded”

But it’s not vitriol for vitriol’s own sake. In a market where Apple and Samsung have so definitively raised their game – and aren’t averse to combining competition on the shelves with some back-stabbing in the courtroom – any company that squanders any potential advantage deserves to be scolded.

HTC is now taking tentative steps back into the cloud. HTC Sense 4+, which debuts on the new One X+ flagship, reboots Sense online with “Get Started” – a way to easily configure your phone without having to actually paw and swipe at it. It’s front and center in the initial setup wizard and – as one of the few obvious changes in Sense 4+ – something HTC appears to be focusing on.

It’s very early days. Right now, “Get Started” is just that: a starting point for new Android users. You can set up your new device online – choose wallpaper, homescreen layout, and apps to download from Google Play – but you can’t then backup any changes you make on the phone itself. The sync is all one-way, a starting point (and a reset point) though there’s no real ongoing reason to keep visiting the online tool.

“HTC could play on the geeky anticipation felt while waiting for a new toy”

Nonetheless, I’m cautiously admiring of the new strategy. From what we’ve seen so far it’s being built out in recognition of HTC’s target audience: fresh smartphone users excited about their first device. The “set it up while you wait for it” approach could be a strong marketing point, playing on the geeky anticipation people feel when they’re waiting for a new toy. “Don’t just watch out the window for the mailman,” HTC should be telling people, “make your phone your own before it’s even in your hands.”

Sense online, in its old form, could’ve been a sticking point for HTC users. The value-add it brought should’ve been something HTC played on: don’t jump ship to iPhone, or another Android OEM, because then you lose out on contacts sync, on remote backup, on phone tracking and remote control in the comfort of your browser. Given the success of iCloud (and the persistent rumors that Samsung is developing its own, ahem, homage with S Cloud), HTC would be foolish not to revisit that strategy with Sense online 2.0.

HTC needs to be careful as it’s being expansive. Just as it needs to maintain sight of its “Hero Device” strategy, it also needs to deliver pitch-perfect cloud services. A 25GB DropBox bundle isn’t enough any more; users want holistic, integrated experiences they can’t get elsewhere. Apple has shown us that you needn’t throw the world at your audience, that it’s enough to give them a few core gems that are easily grasped and have clear value. Now, HTC needs to start looking at more than just one device after the next, and frame its line-up with a portfolio of cloud services that bring context and value users understand.

More on the HTC One X+ and Sense 4+ in our full hands-on

Is HTC finally making Sense? is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’m an Android user. I love my Samsung Galaxy S III. So why am I punching my details into the iPhone 5 reservation site every day? For the past week or so I’ve been using a borrowed iPhone 5, tracking how it holds up – and where it falls short – to the Android experience I’ve grown accustomed to. During that time I’ve been frustrated by Maps, impressed by the camera, and generally had my expectations of iOS shaken up some. It’s always good to mix up the status-quo every so often, too, and along the way remember that there’s more than one way to skin a metaphorical cellular cat.

Vincent’s already comprehensively reviewed the iPhone 5, so I won’t retread old ground where it’s not necessary. Suffice to say, the general reviewer consensus is that it’s the best iPhone to-date, and Apple’s announced sales figures certainly suggest that the buying public agrees.

As I’ve said before, I split my geek life mainly between Android and Apple. I use a MacBook and I have a new iPad, but I also use a Nexus 7 and my regular phone is a Galaxy S III. I love OS X for its simplicity (and I love the new Retina MacBook Pro for its build quality, excellent display, and design) but I’ve had mixed results with iOS. The limits on things like inter-app sharing are a frustration in comparison to Android, and Apple’s comparatively locked down ecosystem overall – though making for a very consistent user-experience – have left me feeling more at home with Google’s platform.

The iPhone 5 is the first Apple handset that has made me consider switching, however. Part of that is the industrial design; while there are many people disappointed that Apple has ditched the glass back panel of the 4/4S, I much prefer the crisp metal of the newest model. It’s a device which you simply must hold in order to appreciate: the perfect alignment and slick finish (assuming yours didn’t get scratched up in transit), and the balance of lightweight feel yet a phone which still feels solid in your hand.

“The 4-inch screen instantly feels correct”

Even though it’s been stretched out in comparison to its predecessors, the 4-inch screen and the longer form-factor instantly feel correct. The old iPhone looks squat and blunted in comparison now. It’s not just an aesthetic boon, though, and flipping between the iPhone 5 and the Galaxy S III, I was struck by just how large and, occasionally, unwieldy the Samsung’s sizable screen is. Conversely, there were times where I was browsing, and the iPhone 5 still felt cramped when viewing full sites where the same content looked bright, readable, and bold on the Galaxy S III.

Nothing prepares you for how tactile the iPhone 5 is, however. I found myself picking it up and toying with it – automatically reaching for it when I was in-between writing articles, for instance, or just while watching TV. Not even necessarily turning it on, though the quality of the display and the smoothness of iOS 6 makes flicking through apps a somewhat mesmerizing experience. The simple cohesiveness and immediacy of the UI animations is enough to convince you that there’s a lot to be said for perfectly matching homegrown software with homegrown silicon, as Apple has done with iOS and the A6 chipset.

Still, iOS 6 isn’t all good. The “over 200 new features” Apple has touted of the latest release is an eye-catching figure, certainly, but in practice it’s tough to identify more than a couple of changes over previous versions. Some of those, like the switch from Google Maps to Apple’s version, are effectively a step backwards, too. The learning curve for existing users is small, then, for the iPhone 5, but the platform is also beginning to feel tired and maybe even stagnant. Why can I share photos via email or Twitter from the gallery, but not Google+? Why is there no “new email” notification when the phone is locked, despite most other apps getting the opportunity to slot alerts onto the lockscreen? Why, if even Apple admits that Maps isn’t ideal, can I not set a third-party alternative as the default for opening addresses?

iOS helped pave the way for a more user-friendly breed of mobile devices, but in many ways Android and Windows Phone have surpassed it in imagination. Part of that might be Apple’s reluctance to leave anybody behind along the way: as Jony Ive said of the iPhone 5 design changes, Apple didn’t want to evolve the appearance of the smartphone simply for the sake of doing so. There’s certainly something to be said for familiarity and sticking with what works, but there’s a faint whiff of laziness around Apple’s approach: a sense of “why do too much when people will buy it in droves anyway.”

Maybe that’s unduly cynical, and what new features do stand-out are generally solid. The panoramic photo system may not be the first such example in a smartphone, but the quality of the final shots is highly impressive. Put Siri – finally becoming of some use outside of the US with the recent functional additions – next to Samsung’s S Voice and the clunkiness of the Galaxy S III’s system is obvious. I’ve not had a chance to try LTE – I was using Vodafone‘s network, still on 3G here in the UK as there’s no commercial 4G service to be had – but battery life proved impressively lengthy.

Maps, then, is the fly in the ointment, and though US-based reviewers have had less of a struggle, outside of the US the situation seems considerably worse. Dodgy data is only part of it, though; Apple may have added turn-by-turn navigation, and I can do without Street View, but the absence of public transport directions is, for a city-dweller without a car like myself, a deal-breaker. I’m not the only one, either. Over the past week I’ve spoken to confused tourists and frustrated cab drivers, none of whom have been particularly impressed with Apple’s own mapping tool.

“Apple has the opportunity to do something interesting in the location space”

Maps will undoubtedly improve – and I do believe that Apple has the opportunity to do something genuinely interesting in the location space, though a combination of gamification and crowdsourcing, and in the process refine its data considerably – but it will have left a lot of users with burnt fingers and lingering suspicions of the native app. Those days I didn’t double up and bring the Samsung with me too, I relied on the excellent Nokia Maps in the browser (with a homescreen shortcut so as to pretend as much as possible that it was a native app).

So why am I considering buying an iPhone 5? Put simply, it’s faults can be addressed with software tweaks – invisibly on the server-side, in the case of Maps, so that for users the experience simply gets better – and its strengths, such as build quality, design, camera capabilities, and battery life, are all undeniable. Plus there’s a whole lot to be said for phones with top-spec components but with more mid-scale displays: 4-inches is a sweet spot that’s overlooked by rival flagships, and usually if you want a handset of a similar size, you have to make do with lower resolution screen hardware, underwhelming specifications, or mediocre aesthetics. Huge displays are eye-catching, certainly, and they do make things like browsing far more immersive, but they come with compromises too.

Question is, will I be carrying the iPhone 5 alone, or will it have to share my attentions with the Galaxy S III? The likelihood is that I’ll be relying on two devices; I’m also considering pairing iPhone 5 and the Nexus 7, though even at 7-inches the Google tablet is less than ideal for bag-less travel. So, two phones it is; that makes me an outlier, yes, but that I’d even consider it having been so satisfied with Android until now is evidence of the step forward the iPhone 5 has taken. It’s not perfect, but it does enough – and well enough – to finally earn a place in my pocket.

That iPhone 5 appeal (or, confessions of a swayed Galaxy S III owner) is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple had a bad situation on their hands when it became apparent over the past week that their new non-Google “Maps” app appeared to fall short of expectations, but Tim Cook took this situation today and flipped it on its head entirely. It’s not that Cook apologized for the situation – the situation being that Apple Maps (without Google) isn’t as perfect as they wanted it to be – it’s that inside this apology, he encouraged users to use other products while they remain patient for Apple Maps to improve. Tim Cook took a situation where Apple could easily have said “just chill out” to the public and said instead, in so many words, “we’re confident enough in our own product that we’ll literally tell you to use other solutions while we prove to you that you’ll want to return to us when the time is right” – this is rare in the tech industry.

The full apology can be found in our other post from earlier today called “Apple CEO Tim Cook apologizes for Apple Maps fiasco”, but the most important bit can be found here. In one line, Cook takes iOS 6 users down a road containing maps from all of Apple’s new Maps’ main competitors. He even tells users to use Google Maps in a browser.

“While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.” – Tim Cook

It’s absolutely unimportant at this very moment if any other company would have done the same or even if Apple would have done the same in the past. Apple has right this moment entered a new age in which they don’t just create products that compete only with their past products – notice their advertisements that don’t mention the competition – they’ve officially encouraged their competitors to make products that will help them move into the future.

Of course if you think Apple made it this far on it’s own, you’re sorely mistaken. Apple has always relied on their friends AND their competitors to create an ecosystem in which they’ll thrive. I leave you with this undeniably awesome, lighthearted vision from all the way back in 1983 – the Apple Software Dating Game. See what you make of it!

Tim Cook’s Maps apology a massive display of power is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Every Apple launch has a sting in the tail, and for iPhone 5 and iOS 6 it’s Maps. Ditching Google Maps and instead turning to a self-made alternative makes sense in terms of longevity, but it meant hitting reset on what had come to be relied upon as a solid and predictable user experience. Apple was going to have to take a PR hit at some point, there was no escaping it. The step back in detail from Google Maps, which has had years of refinement, to the first-gen Maps app of iOS 6, is unavoidably obvious, particularly to those outside of US cities.

Sites such as “The Amazing iOS 6 Maps” highlight the more extreme examples; for everyday users, it’s more likely to be a case of a few confusing directions or mis-labeled locations that introduce a hiccup into their navigation. Turn-by-turn navigation assuages some of the pain, but it only takes one or two bad experiences with moldy data to leave users unconvinced that an app can do the job.

Obviously Apple has to address its patchy data and poor merging of map, satellite, and points-of-interest. What will be interesting is how it chooses to do that. Google has been relatively self-sufficient in its map development, sending out a fleet of Street View cars for instance, but Apple could easily augment its own data gathering with its army of iPhone owners.

Don’t underestimate the loyalty of iOS users and the potential for crowd-sourced data to flood Apple’s servers – if, that is, the company can make it easy enough. There’s already the ability to report errors in Maps’ data from within the app, flagging up wrong street labeling or missing locations, but Apple could build on that with more proactive location-gathering tools. Meanwhile, Apple’s new Panorama feature in the camera app – pumping out high-resolution, seamlessly-joined scenes – could, if suitably geotagged, be repurposed to create Google Street View-rivaling sidewalk level imagery. It would take a huge quantity of data to actually fill in all the gaps, but there are a whole lot of iOS users out there.

“Apple could rely on platform zealots and mercenary interest”

OpenStreetMap is an example of how crowd-sourcing data can come to rival “traditional” business plans. Apple, meanwhile, is in a position to rely not only on enthusiastic platform zealots but somewhat more mercenary interest too: free iTunes credit, perhaps, for those who submit the most new Maps data, or who make the most accurate edits, or who generally contribute the greatest value to the product each week or month.

There’s a lot you can do by passively watching how people move about with their smartphones. Figuring out the most popular routes, for instance, or identifying points where the physical road doesn’t quite match up with where your map data thinks the road is. Conversely, you can spot where that map data might have confused a road with, say, a train track – something iOS 6 Maps has been accused of – based on infrequency of use. Bake in some location ID – checking-in with FourSquare, for instance, or similar services – and you’ve got point-of-interest refinement too.

Apple is playing catch-up. That’s not a position the company is unused to, however, and it has a track record of learning from rivals and delivering a solid and appealing alternative in its own right. What could make the difference from existing mapping services is how much Apple leverages the dedication and ubiquity of its own users, harnessing them into a cellularly-obsessed workforce both contributing to, and benefiting from, a crowd-sourced location system that Apple alone controls.

The iPhone 5 crowd could help Apple Maps find its way is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

After an exceedingly long wait, Nintendo announced recently that the Wii U, its next-generation console, will launch on November 18 in the U.S. The Basic Set will set customers back $299, while the Deluxe offering will cost $349.

For those who haven’t spent too much time focusing on the Wii U, the console will ship with HD graphics – a major omission in the Wii – as well as 8GB or 32GB of onboard storage, depending on the version customers pick. Add that to the touchscreen-equipped GamePad, support for Wii remotes, and a traditional, Pro, controller, and consumers will find the whole package Nintendo is offering.

With the announcement of the device’s launch date, Nintendo also opened up preorders on the Wii U. As expected, Nintendo fans have jumped at the chance to be first in line to get their hands on the console, and hardcore gamers are buying it up because, well, that’s what they do.

But for the rest of us, choosing the preorder now isn’t so easy. The console looks great and all, but there are still a host of concerns that Nintendo hasn’t answered that could make or break the value we see in the device.

Chief among those concerns is how much the Wii U’s games will cost. Nintendo has said that its console will have about 50 games available to customers between launch day and the end of March, and it has even said that a new Super Mario game will be available, but those titles will cost $60.

That’s a problem. Nintendo customers have been conditioned to pay less for games for the last two generations. Now they’re paying the same as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 customers for graphics that really don’t seem all that much better than what we’ve seen to this point? That’s a problem if I’ve ever seen one.

“Many games already available on PS3 or Xbox 360 are coming to Wii U as ports”

But it’s not just that. The Wii U will undoubtedly offer up better graphics than its predecessor, but there is real concern that it won’t be that much of a step up over the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. In fact, many of the games that are available on those other devices are now coming to the Wii U as simple ports. That’s not exactly the most reassuring news to people who are considering plunking down $300 or $350, plus games, to buy a console.

And what about Nintendo TVii? The platform undoubtedly looks interesting and I don’t doubt for a second that it will enhance the overall entertainment factor in the living room for some, but let’s not forget that this has been tried by Google TV and failed. We also can’t forget that Microsoft is trying its own luck with a dual-screen experience with the Xbox 360, and that could be trouble for Nintendo.

Inevitably what I’m getting at is that I just don’t know what kind of value the Wii U is offering yet. There are still far too many question marks to count, and it appears Nintendo is trying to limit offering up answers to those until it must.

For would-be buyers, that’s a red flag. And it’s something that you should definitely keep in mind before preordering the Wii U.

The Wii U might be a great device. But right now, there’s no way to tell. Don’t forget that.

Why You Shouldn’t Preorder the Wii U Yet is written by Don Reisinger & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.